With The Hobbit‘s release date so near, it’s no wonder why the team handling promotion is pulling out all the stops for the upcoming film. In its’ latest TV spot, glimpses of the film’s notorious antagonist, Smaug, have been fleetingly revealed.
We say fleeting because the villain’s appearance only lasts about one second. He appears – in all his dragon hood glory – at about the six second mark as a nightmarish shade flying over an ancient city. One can’t help but be reminded of The Return of the King when seeing Smaug make quite the destructive flyby. However, as The Hobbit has proven thus far to be in nearly every way, his attack seems somewhat fantastic rather than malicious; his actions seem to follow the film’s motif for being especially fantasy oriented.
The Hobbit, of course, has been broken up into three parts and Smaug’s presence will not be quite as weighty until the latter two films. It’s not quite clear if Smaug will make an equally fleeting appearance in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which is due out Dec. 14, or if his presence in the new teaser was just thrown in for promotional purposes. Another possibility may be that he’s shown in the dwarves’ story involving the desolation of their homeland. Either way, he’ll be voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, who was quite busy in 2011 playing in such feature films as War Horse and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
He’ll be joined by newcomer Martin Freeman and Lord of the Rings veterans Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett. Director Peter Jackson has readily helmed this three-part-hopefully-epic version of The Hobbit and has quite heavy expectations weighing upon his shoulders.
Still, The Hobbit has been quite generous in creating promotional material for the film and has given audiences plenty of glimpses as to where the project is expected to go (this is TV spot #9, mind you). As previously stated, the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters on Dec. 14 and already has fanboys and casual audiences alike teeming with anticipation. Enjoy the teaser below!
